The Vocabulary of Fandom: T
The vocabulary of fandom gets into fantasy thanks to the letter T. Trolls and tropes live happily within the ranks of the T. However, trolls aren’t alone since we can also find many acronyms. Time travel is also an option thanks to this letter. So, if you fancy fantasy and science fiction, this is your T-list.
Tag fic (also Episode tag): is a short story that continues an episode from canon. It can also describe the events in parts of the episode. Tags are also sets of words that allow users to search for types of fan fiction in a fic database.
Taco Show: is a fanfic story where a male character ends up being a female for some reason. The purpose of the story is to enjoy slash or have humor. These stories tend to be highly sexist, and many readers might not like them. When a female character is transformed into a male one, the correct terminology is “magic stick.”
TBC: acronym for “to be continued.” The author might want to continue the story, or it’s just announcing that the story is incomplete.
Tentacle Hentai: is a type of fiction where female characters are abused by giant monsters with lots of tentacles. You can see this also in yaoi (slash) manga, where many male characters, often the ukes, are attacked and abused by tentacle monsters.
Thread: is a very long list of replies and replies to answers in a mailing list or message board. It’s also called discussion.
Timestamp: it’s the date used at the beginning of a story. It can be before, during, or after official events in canon. Authors can write them in years, or as accurate as milliseconds.
Time travel: are stories where the characters travel back or forward in time. This is a type of AU that usually sticks to canon events, but not always. Time travel allows alternate universes and timelines.
Tinhat: is someone that won’t listen to anything that contradicts their queer theory. This word comes from the UFO world. Some conspiracy theorists argued to wear tinfoil hats to keep out evil brainwaves.
TL;DR: is an acronym for “too long; didn’t read.” When someone writes a comment or a post that is too long, it can happen that people won’t finish reading them. Many authors write a few lines with the important bits and then proceed to write the full explanation.
TPTB: is short for “the powers that be.” These are unseen gods, powers, or beings that have the power to change things. They tend to refer to the copyright holders. This expression comes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer where old gods are the powers that be.
Troll: is someone who makes defamatory and inflammatory comments with the purpose to make people quarrel. They like to enter into fights just because, and almost always use gray techniques to confuse other people. For example, they might argue different things until people in the community have no idea what they were complaining about in the first place. That’s why you should ignore them online. Don’t feed the troll or you’re giving them vitamins to keep up with what they do. Ignore them, and they’ll go elsewhere because nobody cares about them. The only way to get rid of a troll is to ignore them.
Trope: is a device that helps characterization, settings or the plot in a story. Many tropes are old stereotypes and are widely used to the point of exhaustion. Tropes can be useful or not depending on how authors use them.
TW: is short for Trigger Warning. They are experiences that can cause a negative reaction in trauma survivors. That’s why authors should always warn about what their stories are about, especially if there’s something harsh in them like rape. Often times parts of the story can make some readers uncomfortable. If you want to make sure that you hit the correct audience, always state everything about the story beforehand in your author warnings.
Twincest: is a story where two twin brothers are involved in a sexual relationship. We can find many of these in yaoi manga. This is a taboo for many, so it should be listed in the author’s warnings.
TWS: is an acronym for “train wreck syndrome.” It refers to amazing but horrible things. For example, Mpregs can be TWS.
Have I missed any words? Leave them in comments 🙂
Find more about focal vocabulary:
Other words beginning with:
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